The Gnosticism Rabbit Hole

When learning about Gnosticism, in a book about technology (To Be a Machine), I was struck by how similar the teachings of Gnosticism were to the psychology of Jung, so I looked into it and discovered that Jung was indeed influenced by Gnosticism.

*The Seven Sermons to the Dead *is apparently a work created by Jung during a psychotic episode during which he wrote seven sermons that were meant to teach seeking spirits. This was already strange enough. And then it was suggested that these sermons which were somehow channeled to Jung, formed the basis of his psychology for the rest of his life.

Months later I discovered the works of Philip K. Dick, a prolific science fiction author who wrote the stories of half of the best science fiction movies created in the last half century – the other half were influenced by him. And yet, he isn’t nearly as famous as he should be. Intrigued, I read a book called V.A.L.I.S that was written by him.

And in that book, he recounts a real-life story that occurred to him, enacted by fictional characters. He claims to have received pure information from a fish symbol attached to a woman who had knocked on his front door. Anyway, P.K.D is also clearly influenced by Gnostic ideas, as evidenced by the text.

I hoped that someone had made the connection between Jung, P.K.D and Gnosticism. And someone did. They wrote The Apocalypse of The Reluctant Gnostics: Carl G. Jung and Philip K. Dick

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Related posts:

1. Will It Fly Summary (7/10)
2. Modern Man in Search of a Soul Summary (8/10)
3. Part 2: Stir Up The Transgressive and Taboo (The Art of Seduction)
4. Chapter 19: And They Lived Happily Every After (Sapiens)